The Truth Hurts
by brambernut
Summary: Finn is in an accident; Rachel comes to the hospital to see him.


It had taken all her strength to come here today. Rachel wasn't even sure why she had come. Except that was a lie. The moment she had heard that Finn had been in an accident, nothing else seemed to matter beyond seeing him. Not the new solo Mr. Schue had given to Tina instead of her, not the superior smirks Quinn flashed at her in the corridors. Nothing. The fact that she knew at all was something of an accident.

Ms Pillsbury had heard the news first and was looking for Quinn to deliver the news but had inadvertently bumped into Rachel. She was clearly agitated, so Rachel lightly probed, assuming it was another of her weird quirks. Perhaps she hadn't washed her hands enough times. But as she listened to Emma explaining that Finn had been involved in a car accident it felt as if everything was grinding to a halt. She could vaguely hear the guidance counsellor's voice calling out to her, vaguely hear the sound of students exiting their classes. As her knees buckled and connected with the cold hard floor Rachel was barely aware of anything.

Rachel had forced herself to wait til school ended, after spending an hour convincing Ms Pillsbury she was fine and didn't need to get checked over, before she called the Hummel-Hudsons. She just needed to know what was going on. Sure, she could've asked Quinn to let her know but Rachel preferred to hear it first hand herself. That and she wasn't entirely sure she trusted anything the blonde said. It didn't make hearing Carole's devastated voice any easier, though. Finn's mom sounded shattered as she joked about how she had always loved his get up and go, yet now he was being forced to lie down and relax; something she had been trying to get him to do for years.

She had laughed along with the older female, but it was forced. Her heart felt raw, as if it was she who had been hit by the car and not Finn. So when Carole invited her to come to the hospital, Rachel had leapt at the chance to be close to him. Apparently she had invited Quinn too, but the cheerleader had been somewhat dismissive and claimed she was busy that night but would try to head down later in the week. Rachel didn't care, to be honest, what Quinn did or didn't do, as long as she didn't hurt Finn. No matter how much she knew she was better for him than the blonde, she needed for him to see her and truly appreciate her.

Pacing up and down the corridor she spied Carole's grateful face light up at the sight of her giving Rachel some sense of renewed hope.

"Rachel! I wasn't sure if you'd come or not."

"Is he…." she broke off, knowing he couldn't be because Carole hadn't broken down but she needed the other woman to respond. "Can I see him?"

"He's alright. Well as alright as you'd expect from someone suffering the after effects of a bad crash. He's a terrible patient." Carole laughed as the contours of Rachel's lips pulled into a smile. "You should go in now. Before Kurt arrives and monopolises visiting time discussing the latest handbags in Gucci or trying to get him discussing Patti Lapone."

Rachel nodded, not trusting her voice, and made her way over to the room she had seen Carole exiting from mere minutes before. Her hand rested on the handle as she heard the woman's voice hollering to her.

"He's been asking for you."

It caught the brunette slightly off-guard, wondering why he had been asking for her, of all people, when he was dating someone else. It hurt her head to think about and she found her head and heart in a continual battle for supremacy. With a whimper caught in her throat she found herself almost falling into the door, pushing down harder on the handle than she had anticipated, crashing through it and into the room with a loud thud. At once his eyes met hers, searching for a forgiveness he hadn't known if she would be able to grant.

"Hey Finn. You're looking good." She lied blithely, knowing she could hardly tell him that he looked shocking. And in all honesty he had perked up since he had realised it was her who had entered and not someone else.

"Rach…" he began to croak, though she shushed him in that protective way she had about her when something involved Finn and large amounts of pain whether literal or emotional. She had always striven to protect him, and just because she had lost her way a little he had cast her aside as if she was meaningless. Finn just wasn't sure whether she wanted to go back as much as he did. "Rach…" he tried again fruitlessly, her words drowning out his stream of consciousness.

"Did I mention that Mr. Schue gave Tina the solo? I mean I guess I can see why, although I'm perfectly sure I could've handled the bridge just before the second verse. He knows my vocal ability. I can handle pretty much anything. I'm very versatile…" she babbled on, anything that didn't involve heavy thought or insults working nicely for her right now as she tried to take his mind off anything remotely painful.

"Rach…" he said vehemently, insisting on interrupting her spiel that was rapidly running out of stream anyway. As his fingers reached out for her, intertwining with them, a brief second a guilt coursed through her, knowing she was going to hell for this but somehow not caring. In that moment, for that moment, she could pretend as if Quinn Fabray didn't exist. "….it's always been you…"

"I'd tell you to break a leg but…" she smiled, gesturing towards his badly bruised and injured frame. "…you'll just have to settle for I love you."


End file.
